Thundercats

A lot of cartoons we loved and watched in the 80's had one thing in common. They were all designed to sell toys. Seriously GI Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, Silverhawks, He-Man, they were all 22 minute commercials for the toy line. But they had some basic charm to them and let's face it, it wasn't like we had the most discerning taste back then. I managed to track down a couple copies of them and let me tell you they don't hold up like they used to.

But then something happened in the earlier part of this decade and these old favorites were revived and given new life. Some were really well done and others were obvious cash grabs. This one however I liked and I was kinda bummed that it only got one season.

The show is darker, a lot more adult and thank Jaga they changed Snarf into a pet and not a constant whine machine. If there's one thing I seriously hated about the original was Snarf.

There are elements of the late 2000's / early 2010's in the production. A bigger focus on action, some deeper story elements and actual character development. In a sense it took what made the reboot of the Masters of the Universe popular and removed a lot of the childish elements that had plagued it during it's original run.

It's not perfect by any means but it focused on trying to tell a good story instead of just selling toys.

To be honest , I never watched the original thundercats except for a couple of episodes . and I thought it was corny - and that silly idea wouldn't work nowdays . but I gave it a shot , and this remake not only topped all my expectations . it became one of my favorite animated shows of all time . (up there with TMNT (2003) The Jackie Chan adventures , and even Avatar : The last airbender . just to name some)

it's really in line with them in terms of quality and charm . not only that , but it even easily beats most of the real "anime" out there . and I think this combo of American writing and voice acting with Asian artstyle and animation is just proved as a great choice again .

So , lets break this show down :

Artstyle - some may disagree with me but as an artist myself I find it very beautiful , it's colorful and easy on the eye . but it's detailed enough to be taken seriously . the designs have a modern touch to them and fit the fantasy environment well . and the characters have a lot more ...well , character than the original ones - who looked like your cardboard superheroes.

Animation - every episode so far was animated without laziness , with fluid character movement in every degree possible . and amazing action scenes . the quality is as good as something you would expect from a movie . and I just hope the animators realize they put that as a standard for the show and will never get lazy .

Story - Although I'm yet sure to where this show is heading at , so far the plot lines were good . every episode was pretty epic , and even the fillers were pretty good (the main problem with most "anime") they dealed with serious conflicts . there was a good amount of character development , background stories , and relationships building . and the dialogue was believable - as in , they feel like real people that you can connect with . the only problem I can think of is that every episode is so packed with things that it's sometimes rushed , and has some "holes" in the sequence of things so it could fit into this short time .

Music - the music is fantastic , other than not having a theme song (which kinda sucks).

but thats no biggy at all , the show is entertaining to watch to both old and young and it saddens me how people who can't let go of their nostalgia give this excellent show a bad name and drive it to cancellation. I hope that it will live up to it's planned amount of episodes because I just can't wait to the next one - CN got themselves an addict :)

I first would like to thank WB Animation studios for Producing such a rich and wonderful season of my beloved childhood heroes. If you are a true Thundercat fan you will enjoy this series. It is with great sadness to report that Cartoon Network has canceled this wonderful series. We can blame the Cartoon Giant for this one. With a horrible time slot and push for shows like adventure time, Cartoon network really had no idea who the target audience was. Only after the show was canceled it aired on the late night Toonami. Well.... The ratings speak for itself. This show is awesome. It is a shame that Cartoon Network did not see this from the beginning. I guess the toy sales really cant be pushed on Toonami and Cartoon network only cares about money and not their viewers.

I remember seeing the original series whilst young and young enough to have a memory of everyone having the thundercats bag, the lunch boxes, the toy swords and if it was more fun to watch then He-Man. Thundercats was big and whilst not new in regards to formula it was a different take on the series given it barely included any humans (with exception to Mumm-Ra who i think was human) with striking character designs and a cool sword chant Thundercats was a shining example of a cartoon made marketable.

Looking at Thundercats (185) via youtube and DVD's you see how dated it has become, the writing unbearable sometimes but still the masculine design of Lion-O, Mumm-Ra and the ancient spirits of evil servant 'Pyron' Both have good designs that could be tuned into any show today.

Nonetheless the idea to make a remake was based on the idea that at the core there was a lot the original show could have offered still and this is what the remake does. It goes further much further into detail.

Thundera is now a Kingdom but the cats have lost the moral good to become more muddled, there is genuine rivalry, even dislike between lion-O and Tygra, Lion-O's father prides on posture and is essentially all pride. Other characters have been polished up quite well including the Lizards who are now a race with a strong background.

And cheetah, er wow, she's not bad looking (I'm I confessing to furry here?!)

The voice acting is strong as is the flow of animation. The show reinvents itself whilst being clever with its source material, the writing is very good also.

This series has a great start and will surely have a great run as well. I can see kids who were my age when I first saw the original series be taken in by this as well.

All together now. THUNDERCATS! HO!

Not quite as great as the original series, which was/is one of the best animated shows of the 80s, but almost there and among some of the better animated shows in the past decade or so. The animation is fluid and detailed, if lacking a little in uniqueness (more of an anime sort of look, not a bad thing though, rather than the painterly one of the original series), and it was really nice to see the character designs updated to styles a little more relevant now. The music has its fair share of beautiful, haunting and rousing themes, the lack of a main theme is a little disappointing but doesn't hurt the show that much. The writing has a little humour in respect to the fun of the original show and is also very thoughtful, while the story lines maintain the fun of the original show while taking a darker approach with themes of racism and slavery. And it does that while respecting the original show but showing more mature and relevant themes and incorporating them with little if any heavy-handedness. The action is also very thrilling, and animated beautifully. The characters are engaging and developed very well, while the story lines are paced in a way that episodes move swiftly room is always left to introduce and develop characters and their relationships. Here the heroes and villains are equally interesting, admittedly in the original series the villains were a little more interesting than the heroes. It was an interesting choice having Snarf mute, and it was a choice that did pay off. The voice acting is very dynamic and suit the characters well without being too stereotypical. All in all, almost as good as the original show and as a re-boot Thundercats(2011) is excellent. 9/10 Bethany Cox